26 April 2011

Militants wanted to film, broadcast Indonesian church attack, police say

Islamic militants involved in a plot to bomb an Indonesian church ahead of Easter celebrations wanted to film and broadcast the inferno, which would have occurred as thousands of people were arriving for services, police said Friday.

The plot, uncovered Thursday, has put the nation in a state of high alert with hundreds of thousands of police deployed at churches, 20,000 in the capital alone.

Maj. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam, spokesman for the national police, said the 19 suspects who led authorities to bombs planted beneath a gas pipeline near the Christ Cathedral Church just outside of Jakarta did not appear to be part of any large, existing terrorist organization. [The Associated Press] Read more